


paths crossed

by vdova



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: canon character death (but it doesn't stick), canon to within episode 55, this is less than 500 words of nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-26 00:02:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vdova/pseuds/vdova
Summary: Caduceus Clay knew he was going to die someday. He wasn't expecting to come back with a sense of peace.





	paths crossed

Caduceus always knew he was going to die. He’d considered the knowledge a benefit growing up. One day, he would die, when the Wildmother deemed it appropriate. It made life more livable. There was an order of things; it simply made sense.

Something about the cave sent a shiver down Caduceus’ spine; the mess of a battle only had him feeling more and more on edge. Something bad was going to happen. He could only hope it was to him, and not to his friends.

What a terrible time to get his wish.

Caduceus’ vision went black in a burst of flame. A beat, what would effectively be a breath if he were still drawing it, and there was a shift in the darkness surrounding him. A vision was presented. It started with rolling green fields that gave him a sense of peace. The image shifted, to a land covered with ice-

_“Hey.”_

Caduceus jolted; the image almost went crooked before righting itself. The strange voice repeated the near desperate _“hey”_ , this time partnered with a flash of purple and a smattering of black feathers. Something pulled his attention in the direction of chaos. Maybe it was the curiosity, but something told him it was the purple tiefling make rather obscene gestures in his direction.

It took Caduceus a beat to figure out why the person caused a beat of pain to pulse through his chest. He didn’t look quite like Caduceus had imagined, but it was almost certainly the Mighty Nein’s fallen friend, looking a little more spry than the corpse in the ground Caduceus had stood over. Mollymauk was clearly saying something, his lips moving, the look on his face reading of urgency. Behind him, the vision shifted to a fiery forge, glimpses of scattered historical families, and the feeling of a warm breeze blowing east tossed Caduceus’ hair.

He tried to yell back, a question caught in his throat, but then his vision went black. A beat, a breath, and he felt air filling his lungs once again. Another missed opportunity. In his first few moments of being alive again, Caduceus let out a loud snore to allow himself a moment to wrap his mind around what just happened. But Jester was shaking him and sounded concerned, so he rolled to the side and slurred, “Is it over? Oh, that doesn’t feel good.”

The pleasantries continued, but a pull at the back of Caduceus mind had him looking up. A flash of purple and an illusion of raven feathers appeared behind his friends, and he smiled. He finally comprehended what Mollymauk had said, the words spinning through his mind like a soft breath. “ _Take care of them_.”

Maybe there were some questions better left unasked. Caduceus nodded slowly and turned back to his friends.

Apparently, it wasn’t his time yet.

**Author's Note:**

> I was in the live watch crowd at ECCC and have had this idea banging around in my head since. I saw a cute comic from danlimlim on twitter (of Clay popping in between Vax and Molly, saying 'oh, hello-' and popping out) and knew I needed to write this down.


End file.
